


swedish fish

by wavylesbian



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: College AU, F/F, Human Catra, adora asks to sleep over, bow and glimmer are dating, catra is gay and afraid, catra's fave candy is swedish fish fight me, much fluff, so much pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:49:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24843325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wavylesbian/pseuds/wavylesbian
Summary: college au-- adora asks to sleep over in catra's room because glimmer wants bow to stay the night. an avatar: the last airbender marathon ensues.there's only one problem: catra is definitely hardcore pining for her ex-best-friend-turned-pal-again.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 292





	swedish fish

**Author's Note:**

> in this catra and adora are best friends and they go to the same college but had a huge fight and fell out of touch freshman year. now they've made up and are slowly rebuilding their friendship and are pretty comfortable around each other.

_ Knock knock.  _

It’s 12 am on a Saturday night and Catra was currently on her bed, snuggled beneath her black and red comforter ready to binge some  _ Avatar: The Last Airbender _ (it's the best show ever and she will fight you) until the sun rose when she suddenly got a knock on her door. She stared at the door for a few moments in confusion, unsure if she just heard wrong because she didn’t have any friends that stayed up later than 11:30pm and she doesn’t have a roommate so there’s no one who would need to get in. Catra was brought out of her thoughts when the knocks sounded again, faster and louder this time. She sighed and untucked herself, jumping down from her semi-lofted bed and walking over to open the door. Figuring it might be Scorpia requesting another late-night talk, she whipped open the door with a slight scowl. However, the person that was on the other side was not anyone in the realm of who she would expect.

“Adora?” 

Outside her tiny dorm room stood her ex-best friend and kinda-sorta-definitely crush, Adora. Her straight blonde hair was loose around her shoulders and she wore rainbow unicorn slippers on her feet.  _ Damn, she even looks cute in the shitty fluorescent hallway lights _ , Catra thought. She made a mental note to poke fun at the slippers later as Adora started to speak. 

“Hi, I’m so sorry but Glimmer wanted Bow to stay over last minute and I thought someone else would be up but apparently this is the weekend everyone chose to go to bed early and I know you usually stay up late, at least that’s what I remember, and--”

“Adora,” Catra cut her off. “What do you need?” 

“Can I sleep on your floor?” A faint blush tinted her cheeks and Catra noticed now that she was clutching a pillow and blanket in her arms. “I wouldn’t ask unless it was an emergency. And I really don’t want to take the couch in our common room because it always hurts my back and I have practice tomorrow--” She took a deep breath, “please?” 

Catra feigned deep consideration, leaning against the doorframe and stroking her chin with her index finger and thumb. “I dunno Adora, you’d be invading my very personal private space. What’s in it for me?” 

“I brought snacks?” She smiled and held up two bags of Swedish Fish. “I know they’re your favorite.”

“Deal.” Catra said, snatching the bags immediately and ripping one open with her teeth while pushing the door open wider. 

Adora laughed and Catra almost choked on the two whole fish she already managed to shove in her mouth.  _ Why does her laugh have to be so damn adorable? _ She shook her head and hopped back onto her bed as Adora made her way into the small single. 

Her room wasn’t much, just a long wooden desk and small bulletin board on the left wall and her bed on the right, with her closet on the same wall as her door. She slept with her head towards the skinny two-pane window on the back wall and used her mini fridge as a night table so she would always have snacks within reach. A gray shag rug she got from a thrift store for $5 covered part of the linoleum floor and a lazily hung strand of white christmas lights cast the room in a soft glow. Miscellaneous pictures of her friends and family were plastered around the room, mostly on the wall next to her bed. 

Adora stood by the door, shuffling awkwardly on her feet until Catra pointed to her rug. “You can sleep there, I guess? It’s not much but it’ll soften the floor, and you can use this.” she said, tossing her the extra blanket from the foot of her bed. 

“It’s great, thanks Catra.” Adora smiled softly and knelt down, running her hands over the soft shag before arranging her pillow and blankets. 

From her place up on the bed, Catra could see all of Adora’s crouching body. She watched her for a moment, trying her best not to notice the way Adora tucked her hair behind her ear when it got in her face or the way her light blue tank top did nothing to hide the strong outline of her back muscles.  _ Or _ that when she bent over to smooth out the blankets, her black shorts rode just a little too high up her very toned thighs--  _ Stop being such a useless lesbian, Catra. She’s your ex-best friend, you can’t keep pining like this. You and Adora just started becoming friends again after like a year of not talking, do you really want to throw that away just because of a silly crush? _

No, she didn’t. Catra couldn’t bear the thought of losing Adora again. So, she listened to herself and shoved any romantic feeling she had for Adora deep deep down. 

Once her makeshift bed was situated, Adora looked up to see Catra reopening her Netflix tab. 

“Whatcha watching?” Adora asked, getting up to look around the side of Catra’s laptop. The bed was only as tall as her chest so she leaned on her elbows next to Catra and peered at her screen. Adora’s soft hair tickled Catra’s bare thigh and the scent of her strawberry shampoo drifted up to her nose. Catra tried not to breathe in too deeply and pushed any thought of running her fingers through Adora’s hair out of her mind. 

“No way! I love  _ Avatar _ !” The blonde grinned. 

“I was just about to binge it… you can watch too, if you want?” 

“Hell yeah!” Adora said, backing away so Catra could shift and sit with her back against the wall. Once she hopped up, she tugged on the corner of the comforter and looked over at Catra. “You don’t mind if I get under here, do you? I’m a little chilly.”

The brunette shook her head and let her wiggle her way under and scooch over until their thighs were just touching so she could see the screen resting on Catra’s lap. Her leg burned where their skin made contact, but Catra forced the blush away from her cheeks and cleared her throat. 

“So since we can’t logically watch all three amazing seasons in one night, I was thinking maybe we could start with the first episode and then hit the highlights with our favorite episodes from each season?” Catra raised an eyebrow.

“Sounds good to me!” Adora nodded. 

Thus, they made their way through the first episode:  _ The Boy In the Iceberg  _ with minimal commentary from either girl minus Catra’s occasional “Episode 1 Sokka doesn’t deserve rights” and Adora’s “I can’t wait until Zuko cuts off that damn ponytail”. However, as the night went on their commentary became increasingly more frequent and opinionated. 

“What do you mean you ship Kataang? Zutara obviously had better chemistry and he didn’t kiss her without her consent, twice!” Catra furrowed her eyebrows. 

“Yeah, because he was running around trying to kill her and her friends for two seasons! That’s worse!” Adora challenged. 

_ “He had the best redemption arc of all time are you kidding me you will not destroy my boy’s good name right now.”  _ Catra crossed her arms, eyes blazing and ready to  _ fight her _ . 

“You’re such a dork” Adora laughed, throwing a Swedish Fish at Catra’s face with a smirk. 

“Hey!” Catra threw two more back in retaliation. A fish war ensued, and soon what seemed like hundreds of Swedish Fish covered Catra’s bed and the rest of her room. 

Catra scowled and punched her friend on the shoulder, “I’m going to be finding random Swedish Fish around my room for the next week and it’s your fucking fault.”

The thought of Catra randomly stumbling upon miscellaneous red candy sent Adora into a fit of laughter. She clutched her stomach, falling back onto the bed as tears rolled down her reddening face. 

Catra’s heart fluttered as she felt her lips pull into a small smile. God, did she want to make Adora laugh like that every single day. 

When Adora was finally done, Catra rolled her eyes and they resumed their ATLA marathon. They went through “The Warriors of Kyoshi” (“I wanna see Sokka be forced to chug some Respect Women Juice”), “The Waterbending Master” (“Katara mastering waterbending just hits different”), “The Siege of the North Parts 1&2” (“Fuck Zhao”), “The Cave of Two Lovers” (“~secret tunnel~”), and “The Blind Bandit” (“Toph is the coolest bender, you can’t change my mind”) before things started winding down. 

Somewhere in the middle of “The Cave of Two Lovers,” Catra felt bold and decided to lay her head down on Adora’s shoulder. She felt the girl tense under her before she relaxed and tilted to rest her cheek on the crown of Catra’s head. They stayed like that for the rest of the night, their playful comments and laughter shaking each other as they plowed their way through a few more episodes. 

It wasn’t until the end of “Bitter Work” (Adora wanted to watch the impeccable character that is Foo Foo Cuddlypoops despite being barely able to keep her eyes open) that Catra realized Adora was asleep. Her deep breaths pushed a few baby hairs off of the crown of her head, tickling her nose and almost making her sneeze. When she was sure there were no more potential sneezes or chances of waking Adora up, she slowly leaned backward until she was laying down. Both of their heads hit the pillow, and after an additional minute of stillness, Catra decided to start untangling herself. She was just about to pull away completely when Adora suddenly grabbed onto her shirt. 

“Hey, we’re friends right?” Adora asked sleepily, eyes still closed as her hand flattened out on Catra’s stomach. 

Catra’s breath caught in her throat, responding breathily, “yeah, of course, dummy.”

Adora smiled and snuggled deeper into her shoulder, Catra’s shirt muffling her response. “Good, I don’t want to lose you again.”

She didn’t respond this time, goosebumps raising over her entire body and a million thoughts running through her mind as Adora’s breathing steadied.  _ She doesn’t want to lose me again? She just means as a friend, obviously… right?  _

_ No. Adora doesn’t want me like I want her, and I have to start accepting that.  _

When she was sure Adora was completely asleep, she slipped out from underneath her body. As much as she didn’t want to, Catra didn’t want to make things weird by cuddling in her tiny dorm bed for the rest of the night. She went around the room and held back a chuckle as she picked up any of the red fish she could see, praying that she found the rest tomorrow before any other critters did. She then turned off her christmas lights, plunging her room into darkness. 

Making her way back to the bed, Catra checked on Adora one more time, smiling to herself as she tugged the comforter up over her shoulders and gently brushed a few strands of blonde hair out of her face. Her chest got a little tighter as she thought about Adora’s question and how she snuggled into her shoulder. 

Catra sighed in frustration and whispered, “I want to be more than just friends, you idiot.”

As quietly as she could, she climbed up and curled into a little ball at Adora’s feet (no, she isn’t uncomfortable and yes, she has been compared to a cat way too many times), falling quickly into a deep sleep filled with dreams of what life with Adora could be. 

  
  


The next morning Catra woke to an empty bed and an even emptier stomach. She yawned, stretching out her body as her stomach let out a long, strangled growl. Catra rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and jumped down from her bed, surprised to find her floor completely clean and her extra blanket neatly folded on top of her desk. She eyed the leftover Swedish Fish sitting next to it, and decided that they would be a sufficient breakfast. She was already munching on a few when she noticed the note. 

Resting nicely on top of her blanket was a yellow sticky note covered in Adora’s distinct scrawl: 

_ Morning sleepyhead! _

_ Sorry I left early, I had practice but I will repay you for letting me sleep over with lunch, my treat! Meet me outside of our dorm building today at 1!  _

_ A <3 _

Catra chuckled and raised another piece of candy to her mouth. She was just about to pin the note up on her bulletin board when she saw the small arrow in the bottom right corner telling her to turn the note over. 

_ P.S. I lied when I said no one else was up, I just wanted to see you ;) _

_ P.P.S I want to be more than just friends too, dummy _

_ P.P.P.S Kataang 5Ever.  _

Catra let out a breath in disbelief. She stared at the note a little longer, burning the words into her brain, memorizing each mark of pen like if she looked away they would suddenly disappear.  _ No fucking way. _

Heart beating out of her chest, she lunged to grab her phone, the note still clutched between her fingers. With a shaky hand, she scrolled through her Messages app to her and Adora’s last text conversation. Her thumbs hovered over the keyboard for a few seconds before her brain was clear enough to think of something to say.

_ kataang 5ever? damn, that’s a pretty long time to love the wrong ship _

Catra didn’t expect the little gray typing bubble to appear right away, but she kept her eyes glued to it until Adora’s text came through. 

_ Yeah, well, maybe over lunch today you can take another shot at convincing me why Zutara is superior. I might just change my mind ;) _

Catra shook her head and looked at the time. 11:16 am. 1 o’clock can’t get here fast enough. She let out a breath, a wide smile breaking out on her face as she quickly responded, thumbs tapping to the rhythm of her heartbeat. 

_ it’s a date :) _

**Author's Note:**

> if you made it this far, thank you for reading! i love catradora with my whole heart so this is something i really just did for fun to release some of my happiness over season 5 lol


End file.
